December 2022 By Jack Farrell With a long winter ahead of us, one of the best ways to keep in touch with a passion for the ocean is to read about it. Ever since I bought my first little sailboat over 45 years ago, I have supplemented the school ofRead More

When your plans don’t go according to… the plan

Last spring, my brother-in-law purchased a Catalina 22 he moors in Connecticut’s Clinton Harbor. My present for him was the latest edition of the “Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book.” Here’s why.

December 2022 By Christopher Birch Like ketchup, fire engines and Carmine Hose, Tetras are red. Tom Hill built a white one once, but every other hull of this iconic Steve Redmond rowboat design I’ve seen has been painted red. I’m not sure how this tradition started and why it stoodRead More

What do you get when you cross a pair of friends who have loved sailboats for the last 50+ years, a one-tonner looking for a new owner, a pandemic and Penobscot Bay at one’s doorstep? One ton of refit.

Photo by Jack Farrell September 2022 By Jack Farrell Just short of five weeks into life with the Shining Star, I’m sitting in the wheelhouse between trips at our dock along the Piscataqua. The boat rolls nearly incessantly against the float dock as the weekend warriors roar through the noRead More

August 2022 By Jack Farrell There is an old saying that the two happiest days of a sailor’s life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells it. I’ll agree with the first part, but in most cases – for me – the sale of aRead More

August, 2022 By Christopher Birch The boat was a 1971 Tartan 30, and the previous owner turned her over to me broom clean. Every storage locker and shelf space in the cabin was bare. She was as empty as a frat house keg at dawn. She carried zero cooking equipmentRead More

August 2022 By Ali Wisch Fabre “There is nothing permanent except change.” -Heraclitus As I write this, I’m sitting in my favorite giant palm tree towel. My hair, in a messy natural bun atop my head, smells like coconuts. In the distance, I hear a faint sound, like that ofRead More

July 2022 By Jay and Sally Thompson Thank you for keeping my memories of my years cruising the coast of Maine in focus! I had the opportunity to sail with a dear friend, Francis “Fran” Scheid, on his 36-foot Brewer design Marconi rigged wooden schooner built in Plymouth circa 1976.Read More